Rolling out down a dry creek bed two logging roads after dark
Came out on an access road beneath the cypress, ten miles from the National Park
Flaming trees, charred sedans, block the median, cold tourists, bullet holes and stench
Broke a trail around the warning sign drove down the cyclone fence
Welcome to the country won't you stay awhile?
Jumped the parkway headed south, safe from drones beneath the trees.
Drove right off the grid, cell phone towers pulled out like weeds
Uniforms in the valley with logging chain neckties
There was distant thunder but I could not believe my eyes.
Welcome to the country won't you stay awhile?
Slipped around the shattered post, drove a mile up a wash
Siphoned gas from three dead cars nothings gained if nothings lost
Blessed are the merciful for they shall ration sanctuary
Blessed are the pure in heart for they needn't worry me
Welcome to the country won't you stay awhile?
Crossed the Amish frontier how we made it I don't know
Met a pilgrim at the crossroads named Billy Black,
He said, "Son, there is no place to go."
He said, "You might misunderstand the context, you might over estimate your mind,
When the meek litter the highway peace won't survive contact with the times."
Welcome to the country won't you stay awhile?
Just keep on keeping on, no body wants to live too long,
Welcome to the country won't you stay awhile?
Welcome to the country can't you stay awhile?
Welcome to the country momma, can't you you stay awhile?

Can You Stay Awhile?
This is real good in many ways. Very sublime...melodic. Not as frantic as others (not that there is anything wrong with frantic). I like the concept. I like the words. I found sometimes your vocals get lost under the instruments and verb... I would like to hear it more out front ...harmonica a nice country touch and we drift off into the fire

Good to see you Stan
Thanks for the feedback. Appreciate your listening so well. I wrote this the same day as "Number Station", but couldn't finish this one because of a production issue with another tune. There are a couple more in the "NS" cycle. Maybe I can finish something else once I get the difficult piece finished.

Hello KC
This is indeed a road song. No download, the opportunity to market the song with the other parts of the Number Station cycle remains in mind. I am trying to make a more commercial template. This is the first experiment.

Can You Stay Awhile?
Lots to like, Daug. The post-apocolyptic lyrics are great and the more mainstream (for you) vibe carries the story well. Really like what the organ and harp are doing. Your mostly unaffected vocals are great to hear as well for a change. It is true that the vocals do pop out of the mix a bit when you crank up the song but at more sociable levels the they were a bit hard to hear. I felt that the tone of the left panned instruments was the cause of much of the masking. This is very good. Thanks.

Hello Peter
Welcome to the country. Yer kinda responsible for this one. That red dirt ballad you posted got me started.
The red dirt movement, began by independent artists in the 80s, continues to dominate serious popular music today. There is a rhythm guitar with alot of trem, and a dirty slide guitar causing your listening issues. So this is like a Stones record. The idea is to engineer loud and proud. Can't turn the truth down low and hear clearly. This is at the heart of red dirt. Glad you enjoyed the ride. More soon maybe...

Responsibility...
Sadly, I can't claim responsibility. Philip posted the red dirt song. MJ'ers occasionally get confused between PeterB7858 and Philip18. We are friends and we both live in Melbourne, Australia, so I suppose I can kind of understand why...

Yes...
quite post-apocalyptic as has been seed and a good listen..... vocals are low in parts Daug and I kept hearing shades of Elton John at times....harmonica fits in well with the mood of the lyrics....regards M

Mr. Mo!
Thanks for the shout out. The vocals are victims of engineering. The idea is that the tune must be played loud to be heard. The red dirt movement has many records engineered this way. The technique can be heard on Jagger's vocals on earlier Stones records. I have never been compared to Sir Elton, what an interesting observation, I don't know how I feel about that... funny about that harp. It took me an hour to find it once I started to to make the piece. Just picked it up and hit record. I bet I had not blown a harp in five years. Funny thing about music isn't it?

One of my favorites from you
this is more my speed I believe. I have to agree with groove hound that the vocals do get blanketed by the guitar part. I think maybe imaging the guitar a bit more in the mix and bringing the vocals up a tad would help no matter what level you're playing it. The lyrics are eye opening, kind of like sixth sense. Thanks for sharing.

Been here since the place opened. I hope you enjoy yourself here at MJ.
In fall 2009, I erased the 60+ tunes I had posted since day one. MJ had changed, becoming hateful and repressive, and I needed to respond appropriately.
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